DOE and Los Alamos County Approve New 10-Year Electric Coordination Agreement

After working for nearly five years, Los Alamos County and the Department of Energy updated their original 1985 Electric Coordination Agreement (ECA) for the interconnected electric system that has powered homes, businesses and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) for over 40 years. After months of painstaking work, the new ECA was approved by the Los Alamos County Council on Tuesday, August 25th. DOE has until Monday, August 31st to also sign.

The new 10-year contract accommodates on-going changes to the contemporary electricity markets, the federal procurement rules, and long-term resource commitments, such as for the 170 megawatt Foxtail Flats Solar + Battery Energy Storage System Project in San Juan County. The new contract may be extended for an additional 10 years. Importantly, new language identifies the handling of the Foxtail Flats contracts in the event DOE exercises its right to “terminate for convenience.”

At the same time, the draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Plutonium Pit Production (PEIS) states LANL’s electrical power consumption will increase from 651 to 1,100 million kilowatts per hour per year. The baseline average has remained at 440 million kilowatts per hour per year for some time Regardless, that is a lot of electrical power.

Why is this important? Large amounts of electricity are needed to power the LANL facilities used for plutonium pit production. Plutonium pits are the triggers for nuclear weapons.

The contrast is stark. The agency is called the Department of Energy. It claims the energy is needed to make more nuclear weapons. To what end? More harm? More destruction? More destroyed lives?

Communities are being held hostage to the “needs” of DOE. Together, communities require affirmations of life, not death and destruction. System change is needed now.

Following the Council’s discussion about the new ECA at Tuesday meeting, Joni Arends, of CCNS, reminded the Council during the public comment opportunity: “We must hold DOE accountable.” [We don’t need new plutonium pits. There are thousands stored at DOE’s Pantex Plant, located north of Amarillo, Texas. There are hundreds stored in the Manzano Mountain east of Albuquerque.]

She continued, “CCNS is all too familiar with DOE tactics to run roughshod over the People of New Mexico. Some current examples include: stepping away from working with the New Mexico Environment Department to address the hexavalent chromium plume to the detriment of water quality in the regional Española Basin Sole Source Drinking Water Aquifer.” Other recent examples include: the delayed release of the Plutonium Aging Study until after the draft PEIS public comment period ended; delays in moving transuranic waste stored at Area G off the Hill to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant; the venting of four Flanged Tritium Waste Containers when it was not necessary, and the increased number of worker injuries, among many others.”

REMINDER! The release of the NNSA’s Plutonium Life Study revealed that Plutonium Aging is Not Affecting Existing Nuclear Weapons. Thus, opening the door for you to submit Supplemental Comments on the Draft Plutonium Pit Production Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS). Nuclear Watch NM posted a sample letter you can download and edit at https://nukewatch.org/ Then email your supplemental comments to PitPEIS@nnsa.doe.gov Please also submit your comments to info@pitpeis.com If you are so inspired, share your comments with your congressional delegation. Thank you! Together we are making a difference!

Thursday, August 27^th at 6 pm Mountain Time – Join Night with the Experts: The Generational Impact of Nuclear War with Japanese Atomic Bomb Survivors, Peace Activists, Legacy Successors and Peace Educators for a panel discussion on Zoom. Register at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/le67EG8XRLGmDKpcPPq7mg#/registration For more information at https://neis.org/

Friday, August 28^th from noon to 1 pm – Join the nuclear disarmament community at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval in Santa Fe for the weekly peaceful protest in support of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Bring your flags, signs and banners.

Saturday, August 29^th at 1 pm – Exploring Nonviolence: Tools for Managing Conflict in Everyday Life – A Workshop Presented by Nonviolent Santa Fe – at the Downtown Santa Fe Library. See https://ilasantafe.org/nonviolent-santa-fe/ for details.

Monday, August 31^st – ACT NOW to oppose the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s plans to allow more exposures to radiation through the use of recent Executive Orders. Learn how experts from around the world view the NRC’s proposed changes, how U.S. standards compare internationally, and why global concern is growing at Protect Better at https://www.protectbetter.org/ You’ll find more information, webinar videos with presentations by doctors and other experts, and sample comments you may modify and submit. Join a growing international campaign to protect our health and wellness!